Lyons: Florida doesn't have monopoly on police misconduct

Published: Monday, November 12, 2012 at 3:37 p.m.

Last Modified: Monday, November 12, 2012 at 3:37 p.m.

With a spate of local-cops-gone-astray news in the past several days, I keep thinking about comments I’ve been getting from people expressing a certain geographical bias.

They are relatively recent transplants from “up north” who tell this Florida native that cops “down here” are far less professional and far more prone to bad behavior than those “back home.”

My experience with northern police agencies is limited, but I usually tell those commenters that I think they arrived in sunny Florida full of stereotypes based on Hollywood’s notion of stupid and thuggish southern cops.

But those commenters have had some ammo for their arguments of late. In just the past several days, for instance, greater-Sarasota area cops in three unrelated cases either resigned under pressure or have been informed of a decision to fire them.

One is a Highway Patrol trooper caught justifying a DUI arrest by either lying in his arrest report or being grossly mistaken in a way I can’t really fathom as possible. Among numerous discrepancies from the truth, that trooper wrote and later testified that he smelled a strong odor of alcohol on the driver’s breath. An audio and video recording clearly showed that the trooper repeatedly told another trooper at the scene next to Interstate 75 that he didn’t smell any alcohol.

Tolerating false arrest reports would be a crime. But in fact, it is Trooper Scott Kunstmann who has now been charged with perjury, as well losing his job.

Another officer, Joseph “Ford” Snodgrass, has resigned after superiors determined he repeatedly lied about an injury he said he got on the job when his department motorcycle fell on his leg. Tapes showed no such incident and an investigation determined he suffered the injury while off duty.

In the same week, Sarasota Police Officer Scott Patrick was fired based on video recordings showing an arrest at a Sarasota nightclub. The video shows him repeatedly punching a man in the head during an arrest, supposedly to gain cooperation but while the arrested man was pinned to the ground and much outnumbered by officers.

Those are all sad cases of local cops doing regrettable things and suffering consequences. But the good news is that the agencies involved are not ignoring those incidents or keeping them buried.

And I can’t help but smirk when people tell me that they see this as a Florida problem that they don’t have in their home state. I’ve heard that claim repeatedly, and about numerous places and police agencies, including — to my surprise — the New York City Police Department.

Please. There might be thousands of great cops there, but there are also many examples of bad cop behavior, including some bad enough that the word even makes its way south.

A New York Times story reported some of the bad cop behavior last year: “Seven narcotics investigators are convicted of planting drugs on people to meet arrest quotas. Eight current and former patrol officers are charged with smuggling guns into the state. Another is charged with making a false arrest, apparently as a favor for his cousin. Three more are convicted of robbing a perfume warehouse,” the story’s opening paragraph stated.

What those NYPD scandals had in common, the story said, wasn’t their rarity but rather that none were unearthed and acted upon by NYPD’s Internal Affairs investigators. All were developed by outside agencies. And a police commissioner quoted defending NYPD’s own efforts did so, in part, by saying the department has been monitoring officer testimony in traffic cases after the discovery that numerous officers had been lying even in those.

Cops are human everywhere. And as long as they are, some will wander from the righteous path. No police agency anywhere is immune to instances of corruption and dishonesty.

And to anyone who says they see little of such news “back home,” I suggest that might not be such a good thing. Maybe news organizations and government agencies and citizens groups there have just been less willing or able to expose the problems.

Tom Lyons can be contacted at tom.lyons@heraldtribune.com or (941) 361-4964.

<p>With a spate of local-cops-gone-astray news in the past several days, I keep thinking about comments I've been getting from people expressing a certain geographical bias.</p><p>They are relatively recent transplants from “up north” who tell this Florida native that cops “down here” are far less professional and far more prone to bad behavior than those “back home.”</p><p>My experience with northern police agencies is limited, but I usually tell those commenters that I think they arrived in sunny Florida full of stereotypes based on Hollywood's notion of stupid and thuggish southern cops.</p><p>But those commenters have had some ammo for their arguments of late. In just the past several days, for instance, greater-Sarasota area cops in three unrelated cases either resigned under pressure or have been informed of a decision to fire them.</p><p>One is a Highway Patrol trooper caught justifying a DUI arrest by either lying in his arrest report or being grossly mistaken in a way I can't really fathom as possible. Among numerous discrepancies from the truth, that trooper wrote and later testified that he smelled a strong odor of alcohol on the driver's breath. An audio and video recording clearly showed that the trooper repeatedly told another trooper at the scene next to Interstate 75 that he didn't smell any alcohol.</p><p>Tolerating false arrest reports would be a crime. But in fact, it is Trooper Scott Kunstmann who has now been charged with perjury, as well losing his job.</p><p>Another officer, Joseph “Ford” Snodgrass, has resigned after superiors determined he repeatedly lied about an injury he said he got on the job when his department motorcycle fell on his leg. Tapes showed no such incident and an investigation determined he suffered the injury while off duty.</p><p>In the same week, Sarasota Police Officer Scott Patrick was fired based on video recordings showing an arrest at a Sarasota nightclub. The video shows him repeatedly punching a man in the head during an arrest, supposedly to gain cooperation but while the arrested man was pinned to the ground and much outnumbered by officers.</p><p>Those are all sad cases of local cops doing regrettable things and suffering consequences. But the good news is that the agencies involved are not ignoring those incidents or keeping them buried.</p><p>And I can't help but smirk when people tell me that they see this as a Florida problem that they don't have in their home state. I've heard that claim repeatedly, and about numerous places and police agencies, including — to my surprise — the New York City Police Department.</p><p>Please. There might be thousands of great cops there, but there are also many examples of bad cop behavior, including some bad enough that the word even makes its way south.</p><p>A New York Times story reported some of the bad cop behavior last year: “Seven narcotics investigators are convicted of planting drugs on people to meet arrest quotas. Eight current and former patrol officers are charged with smuggling guns into the state. Another is charged with making a false arrest, apparently as a favor for his cousin. Three more are convicted of robbing a perfume warehouse,” the story's opening paragraph stated.</p><p>What those NYPD scandals had in common, the story said, wasn't their rarity but rather that none were unearthed and acted upon by NYPD's Internal Affairs investigators. All were developed by outside agencies. And a police commissioner quoted defending NYPD's own efforts did so, in part, by saying the department has been monitoring officer testimony in traffic cases after the discovery that numerous officers had been lying even in those.</p><p>Cops are human everywhere. And as long as they are, some will wander from the righteous path. No police agency anywhere is immune to instances of corruption and dishonesty.</p><p>And to anyone who says they see little of such news “back home,” I suggest that might not be such a good thing. Maybe news organizations and government agencies and citizens groups there have just been less willing or able to expose the problems.</p><p>Tom Lyons can be contacted at tom.lyons@heraldtribune.com or (941) 361-4964.</p>